Illinois Rep. Davis’s implicit bias training bill passes House and Senate

Passed bill authored by State Rep. Lisa Davis seeks to address maternal health disparities by mandating implicit bias awareness training for health care professionals, aiming to improve outcomes for marginalized racial and ethnic groups, according to the Illinois General Assembly.

In the House, 75 Democrats and seven Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while 29 Republicans opposed it.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, 39 Democrats and five Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while 12 Republicans voted against it.

Davis introduced the bill in the Illinois House on Feb. 3, 2025 during the 104th session.

The legislation, known as HB2517, was passed on May 21, 2025 during the general assembly session 104.

According to the Illinois General Assembly site, the legislature summarized the bill’s official text as follows: “Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that the Department of Public Health shall create a professional development course that addresses racial disparities in maternal health treatment and the impact of racial disparities on non-Hispanic Black and American Indian women. Provides that the course shall have a length of at least one hour. Requires the course to include education on (i) current statistics about pregnancy-related death for all racial and ethnic groups, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (ii) potential risk factors associated with women that are a part of a marginalized racial or ethnic group that has increased maternal mortality rates, and (iii) medical care plans and programs that have been demonstrated to successfully decrease maternal mortality rates and complications before and after pregnancy. Provides that the Department shall require health care professionals to complete the professional development course.”

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, the bill mandates that health care professionals in Illinois, with continuing education requirements, complete at least a one-hour implicit bias awareness training per renewal period, with this becoming effective July 1, 2026. The training must include content on potential maternal health risk factors for marginalized racial or ethnic groups experiencing higher maternal mortality rates. Professionals may apply this training hour towards their required continuing education credit hours. The implicit bias training can also fulfill other state licensure requirements, professional certifications, or practice agreements. The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is authorized to adopt rules for implementing these requirements.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid (Democrat-21st District), Sen. Adriane Johnson (Democrat-30th District), and Rep. Amy Briel (Democrat-76th District), along with 44 other sponsors.

Bills in Illinois follow a multi-step legislative process, beginning with introduction in either the House or Senate, followed by committee review, floor debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching the governor for approval or veto. The General Assembly operates on a biennial schedule, and while typically thousands of bills are introduced each session, only a fraction successfully pass through the process to become law.

You can read more about bills and other measures here.

Davis graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2001 with a BA and again in 2007 from Northern Illinois University with a JD.

Davis, a Democrat, was elected to the Illinois State House in 2025 to represent the state’s 32nd House District, replacing previous state representative Cyril Nichols.

Lawmakers listed as “Not Voting” were present for the vote but did not cast a vote. Those marked as having an “Excused Absence” were not present and formally provided a reason for their absence, which was accepted.